Monday, May 14, 2012

Scientist pleads guilty to stealing company's formulas

standard.net

SALT LAKE CITY -- A scientist accused of stealing secret formulas from a Utah chemistry company has pleaded guilty to a federal computer charge.

Prabhu Mohapatra entered the plea Friday in U.S. District Court to one count of unlawful access to a protected computer, in exchanged for prosecutors dropping 25 other charges against him, the Deseret News reported.

Mohapatra, 42, had worked for North Logan-based Frontier Scientific Inc. from 2009 to 2011. He admitted to accessing a company chemical resource notebook and emailing the formula for meso-Tetraphenylporphine, or TPP, to his brother-in-law in India.

Investigators say that relative was setting up a competing company to undercut Frontier Scientific on prices it charges for pharmaceutical chemicals. Frontier Chemical, which supplies chemicals for research and drug discovery, says no other company in the world produces TPP in such large quantities.

The case marked the first time federal authorities filed industrial espionage charges in Utah, according to FBI officials. Until 1996, the theft of trade secrets wasn't a federal crime, and the FBI had spotty success trying to prosecute such cases using other statutes.

Prior to starting ComSec LLC in 2007, Mr. LeaSure was active within the counterespionage, counterterrorism and TSCM fields for 26 years. He has attained the prestigious CCISM, Certified Counterespionage Information Security Management Certification. He also has extensive training, knowledge and experience in the identification of eavesdropping devices, espionage detection methods and the intelligence collection tactics most often employed by perpetrators of electronic espionage.

J.D. LeaSure is also the Director of the Espionage Research Institute International (ERII). As Director, he is tasked with ensuring the organization is successful in its mission to provide continuing education, facilitate professional relationship building and ensure the counterespionage & counterintelligence skill sets of its membership remains current as espionage tactics and devices evolve.